7:58 am, December 2, 2024
The boss of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has defended the financial watchdog after it came in for stinging criticism from MPs.
Car Dealer reported last week that a cross-party parliamentary group had labelled the organisation ‘incompetent’ and ‘dishonest’ in a brutal report, following a two-year investigation.
The bombshell conclusions come as the FCA continues to face questions over its handling of the motor finance scandal, especially its response to October’s landmark Court of Appeal ruling against Close Brothers and FirstRand Bank.
Now however, the regulator’s boss has come out swinging, as he insisted the report’s characterisation of the FCA was ‘not fair’.
Chief executive Nikhil Rathi defended the FCA, saying it was dealing with ‘record numbers of financial crime prosecutions’ and had become one of the world’s ‘most evolved consumer protection regimes’.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Money Box programme, he said: ‘We will always stay focused on improving our operational performance, but I don’t think it would be fair to characterise the position as nothing has happened.’
He said the balance of promoting growth, including changes to allow more companies to list in the UK, and consumer protection ‘requires a debate’.
‘That does mean that over time a few more things will go wrong, but the risk appetite in the economy needed to adjust to support the growth that the economy needs,’ he added.
Rathi also said the FCA, whose job is to regulate the conduct of around 42,000 financial businesses in the UK, published more data and was subjected to Parliamentary scrutiny more than ‘any other regulator in the world’.
Nikhil Rathi, CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority
The damning report was produced by a cross-party parliamentary group, made up of 30 MPs and 14 peers, which has been investigating the FCA for the past three years.
It spoke to over 175 individuals, including including former employees, scam victims and whistleblowers and concluded the the picture painted of the financial regulator was ‘not pretty’.
The full report was presented to Parliament last week (Nov 28) with evidence suggesting the watchdog is ‘not fit for purpose’.
‘The picture painted is not pretty,’ it concluded.
‘The FCA is seen as incompetent at best, dishonest at worst. Its actions are slow and inadequate, its leaders opaque and unaccountable.’
The body is continuing its investigation into the mis-selling of vehicle finance and recently announced a string of delays to the period dealers have to handle complaints.
Meanwhile. the Finance and Leasing Association recently claimed the watchdog had ‘serious questions to answer’ over its handling of the crisis.
